TheLead Sports

9 Cringe-Worthy Athlete Tattoos

Imagine waking up every single day with that feeling of regret you have after trying to make out with a co-worker, or buying a table at a club just to skip the line, or telling the person at the front desk of your gym “you too” after they said, “have a good workout” (dammit, you idiot). Now imagine that regret has materialized, liquified into ink, and penetrated your skin. The nine athletes below have done just that.

No 9: Julian “Julz the Jackal” Wallace

Behold the face of a man who doesn’t expect to live past 45.

No 8: Mike Scott

Like several of his NBAcolleagues, Mike Scott’s got an addiction to ink. Texting rule of thumb that goes double for tattoos: it’s better to say nothing at all than to say nothing with emojis.

No 7: Jay Bothroyd

No doubt this English soccer player thought he could stymie his slide into obscurity with some outlandish gesture that would go viral on the internet. Well, mission accomplished.

No 6: Frederick Bousquet

The Frenchman proudly displays the male tramp stamp, a trend that should never have been a thing in the first place.

No 5: Justin Miller

It’s as if Miller walked into a tattoo parlor, flipped through the design book, and requested one of everything that hadn’t been chosen in the past decade. But what’s worse than his hot mess of engraved skin is the fact that he actually posed for this goofy photo.

No 4: Kenyon Martin

The lips are tacky and Martin knows it – the before and after photos are all the evidence you need of buyer’s remorse. Note to Kenyon: a regrettable tattoo choice is better served by a laser than by compounding the matter with a crowned clitoris.

No 3: Arturo Vidal

We take issue with several aspects of the Chilean’s overall canvas. For starters, the spacing is all wrong, with seemingly unrelated tats colliding like Howie Day. The winged cross gives off more of a choky vibe than an uplifting one, and for fuck’s sake, the spray paint motif needs to be retired immediately. It’s really saying something when your neck tattoo is only your fourth biggest mistake.

No 2: Colin “Freak Show” Fletcher

Perhaps the most aptly nicknamed fighter of all time has got bigger issues than some ill-advised needlework.

No 1: Aaron Hernandez

The ink by itself wouldn’t be enough to get Hernandez on this list, but he may have fared slightly better in court without the neck tattoo. In fact, he may have even been stupid enough to document his crimes permanently on his own body – only the jury knows for sure.